More than twenty years ago, Robert Croshon, an elderly friend of Frye Gaillard's, told him the story of Croshon's ancestor, Gilbert Fields, an African-born slave in Georgia who led his family on a daring flight to freedom. Fields and his family ran away intending to travel north, but clouds obscured the stars and when morning came Fields discovered they had been running south instead. They had no choice but to seek sanctuary with the Seminole Indians of Florida and later a community of free blacks in Mobile. With Croshon's blessing, Gaillard has expanded this oral history into a novel for young readers, weaving the story of Gilbert Fields through the nearly forgotten history of the Seminoles and their alliance with runaway slaves. As Gaillard's narrative makes clear, the Seminole Wars of the 1830s, in which Indians fought side by side with former slaves, represents the largest slave uprising in American history.

1. Go South to Freedom:
The Importance
of Classroom Storytelling
Frye Gaillard, Nancy Gaillard &
Paige Vitulli
Friday, November 17, 2017,
10:00- 11:00 am
Presentation #105

2. Frye Gaillard, writer in residence at the University of South
Alabama, has written extensively on southern race relations,
politics and culture. He is former Southern Editor at The
Charlotte Observer, where he covered Charlotte’s landmark
school desegregation controversy, the ill-fated ministry of
televangelist Jim Bakker, the funeral of Elvis Presley, and the
presidency of Jimmy Carter. Gaillard has written or edited
more than twenty books, and his award-winning titles
include the following: Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the
Movement That Changed America; The Dream Long
Deferred: The Landmark Struggle for Desegregation in
Charlotte, North Carolina; Watermelon Wine: The Spirit of
Country Music; If I Were a Carpenter: Twenty Years of
Habitat for Humanity; Prophet from Plains: Jimmy Carter and
His Legacy; and As Long As the Waters Flow: Native
Americans in the South and East. Gaillard now lives on the
Alabama Gulf Coast with his wife, Nancy, who teaches in the
College of Education at the University of South Alabama.

3. Nancy Gaillard began teaching in 1970 after graduating from the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
My first job was in a tiny rural school district in Georgia, which opened
my eyes to a world I was totally unfamiliar with. In the years since, I
have learned that while the world around us may look different, the
children we teach are the same as they develop physically, socially, and
emotionally regardless of who they are or where they live. I have had
the wonderful opportunity to teach and be an elementary principal in
North Carolina, where I also participated in travel abroad with groups
of teachers from all over the world. In addition to traditional schools,
my role as principal of two public Montessori elementary schools
opened my eyes to all of the possibilities for different ways of teaching
and learning. These experiences helped me to grow personally and
professionally and know that at some point in my career, I would find
the right place to share that knowledge and those experiences. I have
found that place at USA where, since 2004, I have had the pleasure of
teaching in the College of Education, Department of Leadership and
Teacher Education. The students in my pre-candidacy classes in our K-6
Program have challenged me to continue learning and developing my
own skills as a teacher and learner. Working with outstanding scholars
and researchers in their own fields of education inspires me every day
and encourages me to never stop learning.

4. Paige Vitulli's professional background influences the integrated
approach she takes toward teaching, learning and living. From an
elementary school teacher in the Mobile County Public School
System to an associate professor at the University of South
Alabama, Paige has taught all subjects including language arts
methods, foundations of reading instruction, action research and
instructional design courses. She currently is the program
coordinator for graduate arts education, teaches graduate and
undergraduate courses in arts education and serves as the Interim
Chair of the Integrative Studies Department.
Paige finds inspiration in engaging and sharing in the digital world
as well as promoting visual arts history and production
experiences. Being on the board of the Alabama Art Education
Association and Alabama Contemporary Art Center, facilitates
learning from the expertise, journeys and stories of other
interesting and inspiring people. Her personal interests include
traveling, photography, kayaking, gardening, cooking, attending
concerts, and spending quality time with family and friends.

5. Benefits of Storytelling
as an Instructional Strategy
• Allows students to explore their own cultural roots
• Allows students to experience diverse cultures
• Enables children to have empathy for unfamiliar
people/situations/places
• Offers insights in to different traditions and values
• Offers insights into universal life experiences
• Helps children consider new ideas
• Reveals differences and commonalities of cultures
around the world

6. Benefits of Storytelling
as an Instructional Strategy
• Promotes a feeling of well being and relaxation
• Increases verbal proficiency
• Encourages imagination and creativity
• Encourages cooperation
• Enhances listening skills
• Initiates writing skills and enthusiasm
• Motivates ell learners

7. “Quotes”
"Stories are a communal currency of humanity."
--Tahir Shah, in Arabian Nights
"Great stories happen to those who can tell them." --Ira Glas
"The engineers of the future will be poets." --Terence McKenna
"The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through
stories." --Mary Catherine Bateson
"Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form."
--Jean Luc Godard
"Story is a yearning meeting an obstacle." --Robert Olen Butler
"If you're going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all."
--Joseph Campbell
"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of
defining it." --Hannah Arendt

8. "The stories we tell literally make the world. If
you want to change the world, you need to
change your story. This truth applies both to
individuals and institutions."
--Michael Margolis
"Those who tell the stories rule the world."
--Hopi American Indian proverb
"There is no greater agony than bearing an
untold story inside you." --Maya Angelou
"There's always room for a story that can
transport people to another place."
--J.K. Rowling
"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put
ideas into the world today." --Robert McKee

9. "If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are
needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive."
-Barry Lopez, author of Artic Dreams
"Stories-- that's how people make sense of what's happening to them when they get
sick. They tell stories about themselves. Our ability as doctors to treat and heal is bound
up in our ability to accurately perceive a patient's story. If you can't do that, you're working
with one hand tied behind your back"
-Dr. Howard Brody, family practice physician
"Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour
into human manifestation"
-Joseph Campbell
"The story-- from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace-- is one of the basic tools invented by
the human mind for the purpose of understanding. There have been great societies that
did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories"
-Ursula K. LeGuin
"Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand
stories"
-Roger C. Shank, cognitive scientist

10. 1. Escape
2. The Cave
3. Decision
4. Black Seminole
5. Trail of Tears
6. Mobile
7. Free at Last
Afterword

11. More than twenty years ago,
Robert Croshon, an elderly friend
of Frye Gaillard's, told him the story
of Croshon's ancestor, Gilbert
Fields, an African-born slave in
Georgia who led his family on a
daring flight to freedom.

12. Fields and his family ran away intending
to travel north, but clouds obscured the
stars and when morning came Fields
discovered they had been running south
instead. They had no choice but to seek
sanctuary with the Seminole Indians of
Florida and later a community of free
blacks in Mobile.

13. With Croshon's blessing, Gaillard has
expanded this oral history into a novel for
young readers, weaving the story of Gilbert
Fields through the nearly forgotten history
of the Seminoles and their alliance with
runaway slaves. As Gaillard's narrative
makes clear, the Seminole Wars of the
1830s, in which Indians fought side by side
with former slaves, represents the largest
slave uprising in American history.

14. Gaillard also puts a human face on the
story of free blacks before the Civil War
and the lives they painfully built for
themselves in Mobile. Hauntingly
illustrated by artist Anne Kent Rush, Go
South to Freedom is a gripping story
for readers of any age.
http://www.newsouthbooks.com/bkpgs/de
tailtitle.php?isbn_solid=1588383164

15. Teaching and Learning Guide

16. Teaching and Learning Guide
http://www.newsouthbooks.com/gosouthtofreedom/316-
GSTF_teaching_guide_v301-lowres.pdf
To support more demanding teaching standards and
learning objectives, teacher guides that accompany
textbooks and other kinds of teaching material must
offer a variety of ways to support student understanding
and comprehension of the specific content included in
the material. Use this guide to help you and your
colleagues plan individual lessons, thematic units,
projects, and assignments by adapting the suggested
activities according to your students’ abilities and needs.
Students may also use portions of the guide as they read
the book to encourage higher-level thinking skills as well
as asking questions about this important part of
everyone’s history.

17. • Think about why the art of storytelling was so
important to the author. Why does he want
you, the reader, to know about storytelling?
• The illustrator for this book chose to draw the
pictures in black and white. Think about why
this might have been her decision. Create a list
of questions you would like to ask her about
her work.
• Compare your own family’s life to the life of
the family in this chapter. Make a list of the
ways the two families are different and the
ways they are alike.
Teaching and Learning Guide Sample Questions

18. More sample questions

19. Resources
A phenomenological evaluation: using storytelling as a primary teaching method
By: Michele R. Davidson
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1471-5953(03)00043-X
When a 16-year-old meets an 89-year-old, storytelling helps bridge the age gap
By: Tara Bahrampour
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/when-a-16-year-old-meets-an-89-
year-old-storytelling-helps-bridge-the-age-gap/2017/08/12/7be49934-7ece-11e7-9d08-
b79f191668ed_story.html?utm_term=.629ab6547524
The importance of storytelling
By: Karen Simpson
http://www.consider-ed.org.uk/the-importance-of-storytelling/
The Effects of Storytelling and Story Reading on the Oral Language Complexity and Story
Comprehension of Young Children
By: Rebecca Isbell, Joseph Sobol, Liane Lindauer, & April Lowrance
https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ECEJ.0000048967.94189.a3
Storytelling – Benefits and Tips
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/storytelling-benefits-tips

20. Why Storytelling in the Classroom Matters
By: Matthew James Friday
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/storytelling-in-the-classroom-matters-matthew-friday
Social Studies in the Storytelling Classroom: Exploring our Cultural Voices and Perspectives
By: Jane Stenson and Sherry Norfolk
https://www.amazon.com/Social-Studies-Storytelling-Classroom-Perspectives/dp/1935166565
Improving Your Storytelling: Beyond the Basics for All Who Tell Stories in Work or Play
By: Doug Lipman
https://www.amazon.com/Improving-Your-Storytelling-Stories-American/dp/0874835305
The Power of Personal Storytelling: Spinning Tales to Connect With Others
By: Jack Maguire
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Personal-Storytelling-Spinning-Connect/dp/0874779308
Children Tell Stories: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom
By: Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss
https://www.amazon.com/Children-Tell-Stories-Storytelling-Multimedia/dp/1572746637
Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling
By: Margaret Read MacDonald, Jennifer MacDonald Whitman, and Nathaniel Forrest Whitman
https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Story-Classroom-Connections-
Storytelling/dp/1939160723